University of Maryland Department of Cell Biology and GeneticsNational Institutes of Health National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorder Laboratory of Cell Structure and Dynamics, Section on Structural Cell BiologyUniversidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Centro de Ciências da Saúde Instituto de Ciências BiomédicUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)

Resumo

It has been recently shown that Trypanosoma cruzi trypomastigotes subvert a constitutive membrane repair mechanism to invade HeLa cells. Using a membrane extraction protocol and high-resolution microscopy, the HeLa cytoskeleton and T. cruzi parasites were imaged during the invasion process after 15 min and 45 min. Parasites were initially found under cells and were later observed in the cytoplasm. At later stages, parasite-driven protrusions with parallel filaments were observed, with trypomastigotes at their tips. We conclude that T. cruzi trypomastigotes induce deformations of the cortical actin cytoskeleton shortly after invasion, leading to the formation of pseudopod-like structures.